The Boom Job
by RE209
Summary: One night Parker and Eliot are followed by a stranger who is looking to offer them a job. It quickly becomes clear that the stranger has a history with more than one member of the team - and that the job will require they all put their lives on the line.
1. Chapter 1

She felt like there was someone watching her. It was just one moment, really, when she was exiting the bar, but it was enough to make her pause. Eliot caught her there, hesitating between the door and the staircase to the street, mulling the feeling over. Something was off. Someone was watching.

"Damn it, Parker!" Eliot had been adjusting his jacket and ran right into her back. Without even thinking about it she skipped forward a step, keeping her balance. She used the momentum to lean forward and look under the bars of the staircase railing. "What are you doing?" he growled at her.

"Someone is watching me," she replied, only half listening to him. To his credit, Eliot decided to take this seriously. After three years working with Parker, he could recognize the voice she used when she was working through a problem. This wasn't dreamy, crazy Parker. This was the part of her that helped her survive.

"Where do you think they are?" He moved closer to her and peered out onto the street, scanning from side to side.

"Gone now," she murmured. "Probably spooked." She squinted into the dark. Nothing.

"I'm going home," she told Eliot. She danced up the stairs and turned right, heading to one of the several safe houses she had throughout the city. She choose one the team didn't even know about. She didn't want to go back to her warehouse. Even though she has a dozen different routes there (choosing them at random to remain unpredictable), she doesn't trust herself to loose a shadow tonight. Better not to risk leading someone back to her her main hub when she can lead them to a place that's easy to burn.

Her senses are on high alert and it is only a block later that she stops for the second time, feeling eyes on her. She sighs, he isn't even trying that hard to hide from her. "Eliot."

She is sure she hears a growl before he comes out of his hiding place and comes to stand beside her. "I'm not letting you walk home alone, Parker."

"I'll be fine."

"This isn't a negotiation."

"Eliot - "

"It is my job to protect you guys. I'm not letting a member of my team go home unprotected when they think they are being followed."

"Whoever they are, they're gone now. I don't need you to babysit me."

"Parker! This better not be about you not wanting me to see where you live."

"It isn't!" she insisted. But part of it was. She was comfortable with her team/family and knows they could be trusted. But a part of herself - the part that was shaped through painful experience - wanted there to be at least one place in the city where no one knew to look for her. Showing Eliot the apartment she planned on staying in was a lot to ask for.

She was silent for too long, and he could see the her confusion mounting. "How 'bout I escort you back to my place. That way I know you're safe and you don't have to give away any more than you would like." She knodded at him, grateful for his understanding, and fell into step beside him as he lead the way.

They walked a few blocks more before she realized that she probably offended him. She began to watch him out of the corner of her eye. "Parker, stop that." He muttered a few minutes later. Her gaze skittered away and swept the street around her. No sign of a tail, and she felt as if they were alone. But something kept her alert anyway...

She decided to focus on Eliot to take her mind off of the troublesome something. She began to stare at him again. "What are you lookin' at me for?" he asked.

"I don't want you to be disappointed," she told him after a moment's deliberation.

"Disappointed in what?"

"Me. For not letting you walk me home. If it was for something else - But I couldn't tonight. I just...you don't let people see where you hide when you feel like something's after you."

He let her finish then put a hand on her shoulder. "Makes sense," he told her.

"The others, they don't think I trust them."

"That's because you don't. Not completely."

She looked down at her feet. He was right.

"You'll get there."

"When?"

"Dunno. You just will." He looked over to try and catch her eye, but instead found himself being yanked to the side and down an alley. She began to jog, then run and Eliot's mind struggled to catch up to her even as his body matched pace with hers.

"What the hell!"

Parker didn't respond, instead she lead him at a dead sprint for another few minutes. They twisted their way along alleys and side streets, up a hill and through a neighborhood Eliot was shocked to recognize. She was leading him to his own house - a house she'd never been to. As far as he was aware. She seemed to calm down a quarter mile from his place and slowed to a light jog.

"I saw someone."

"Damn it, Parker, say something next time. I could've grabbed them, gotten you some answers."

She seemed spooked for a reason Eliot couldn't name. He was sure she had been followed many times before, and in circumstances much worse than these. But she seemed to be determined to shake this problem rather than confront it. He shook his head, upset by the idea of backing down from a fight, then reconsidered. Cat burglars weren't exactly known for their love of confrontation.

They walked up to his front door and he paused to look her over. "What, you aren't gonna pick it?" It was half a joke, half a challenge.

"How do you know I don't already have a key?" Since it wasn't outside of the realm of possibility for Parker to have lifted, copied, and returned his keys he relented. Better not to know. He opened the door and lead the way inside, only to stop suddenly when he saw a figure move inside his living room.

Eliot flicked on the lights, throwing both his living room and the stranger sitting on his couch into relief. He and Parker paused, taken aback. In the split second it took him to recognize her, the woman in his living room smiled up at them and spoke.

"In the old days you'd have a gun pointed at me already."

"I don't like guns - " he started to say, as Parker responded with, "I prefer tazers now."

They looked over at each other, and then at the woman on the couch. The woman laughed.


	2. Chapter 2

"I don't like guns - " he started to say, as Parker responded with, "I prefer tazers now."

They looked over at each other, and then at the woman on the couch. The woman laughed. "Didn't know you ran with Eliot Spenser these days, Parker."

Parker was suddenly beside the woman, her tazer in on hand, the other on the woman's throat. "Didn't realize you were following me these days, Darlene."

Eliot was torn, he didn't think Darlene was there to hurt Parker, but he also thought some violence wasn't entirely undeserved. In the end he separated them because he didn't want to deal with Nate's fury at learning he had let Parker kill Darlene Fields.

"Come on, Parker. Let me handle it," he said, with the tone of a tired schoolteacher, and he pushed the thief away from their surprise guest.

"I don't like being stalked, Eliot," she spat as he pulled her hand off Darlene's throat. She gave up and yanked her arm back with a flourish, then stomped out of the room and into his kitchen.

"Where are you going?" he yelled after her. Darlene laughed and settled further into his couch. She rubbed her neck where Parker had held it, and smiled up at Eliot. "Always was an aggressive one," she joked. Parker stomped back into the living room holding a bowl of cereal. Eliot gaped at her, clearly pissed off.

"If I have to deal with this I'm going to need dinner," she told him. She sat cross-legged on the top of his coffee table and glared at Dar. "What do you want?"

"Or, better yet, how did you get in here?" Eliot asked. Neither one of the woman looked at him, they were having their own little staring contest. Darlene looked like she was about to burst out laughing while Parker looked like she wanted to kill someone.

"I saw you and your boy at the new ICA exhibit," Darlene said. Parker narrowed her eyes and ate a bite of cereal as if she hoped to chew off the spoon. "I didn't recognize him, but he paid too much attention to security. I figured you were runnin' something, followed you back to the bar that day out of curiosity. Didn't want us to overlap turfs, but needed some information before I made myself known. "

"Parker..." Eliot growled. He suspected that Hardison and Parker ran small jobs on the side - their own weird version of foreplay, no doubt. But pulling off a theft, in their own city, without telling the crew and getting seen by an old enemy - that seemed like a bit of an oversight.

"We weren't casing the place, Eliot," Parker said, clearly offended. "I'm not stupid enough to pull off a heist while we're in the city. Hardison was just showing me their new fancy motion sensors. And I think he wanted to see some glass sculpture or something."

"We all know about Japan, Parker."

"Japan? How recently - because I can think of a job or two that might have been yours," Darlene seemed genuinely curious, and it was enough to make Eliot consider his earlier assumption. Maybe Parker wasn't spotted by an old enemy, maybe she was spotted by an old partner.

"Just keep talking, Dar," Parker demanded. Darlene sighed. She reached into Parker's cereal bowl fast enough to snag a few pieces, then popped them in her mouth and continued her story.

"So I see you and mr. talk, dark, hansdom outlaw wander into the bar. And I was about to go when I noticed Eliot here. And then I start to wonder."

"Wonder what?" Eliot snarled.

"What you all are up to. What is the world's best thief doing paired up with one of the world's best hitters?"

"One of?" He took a step closer, seriously considering giving her a scare just out of professional pride. Darlene smirked up at him and winked.

"Couldn't help but nettle you, dear. You pout so pretty." Parker let out a quick, harsh laugh.

"He does make fun faces when he's angry," she told Darlene.

"Don't help, Parker," Eliot said. He crossed his arms and settled continued to glare down at his surprise guest. He wanted nothing more than to sit down with a beer, maybe read or watch the game. But here he was, two crazy women invading his private space, letting them mock him.

"Anyway, dear. I saw you two were all paired up and realized that you might have something bigger in the works. Not your usual smash and grab." Parker nodded and ate more cereal. She was trying to make up her mind about Dar, trying to puzzle out what she wanted.

"You spooked me earlier," Parker said, with the air of someone thinking out loud. Darlene smiled and leaned towards Parker. She snagged a few more pieces of cereal out of the bowl as Parker continued to put everything together. "You've never been able to track me. You must have figured, what? You spook me and Eliot - "

"Eliot would take you to his own little safe house," Darlene finished the thought for her. "That's the thing with hitters, hon. They're terribly predictable at times. All I had to do was track him and wait for the right moment to give you all a little scare."

Eliot sighed pointedly and was ignored.

"So you drew me out. What do you need?"

"Help. From both of you - hell, from anyone of your little band of misfits that is willing to lend a hand."

"Why would you need that much help?" Eliot demanded, pride still stung a bit from the thought that he had become predictable.

Darlene smiled up at him sadly. "You see, there's a bomb. A big one."


	3. Chapter 3

The team was gathered around the monitors at Nate's place, waiting impatiently for Eliot and Parker to figure out who was going to give the presentation. Hardison was drinking his usual orange soda and enjoying his little day off from running through the information, while Nate was simply holding back from yelling at his team for bickering like children.

"I've worked with her more, Eliot. I should get to run it."

"I know more about what she specializes in, Parker. Now go sit down!"

Eliot reached for the remote that had been on the table, only to find that it had been stolen. "Give it," he demanded. Parker stuck her tongue out at him and danced out of his reach, holding the remote above her head. She clicked a button and Darlene's face filled half the screen. Beside her picture was what looked like crime scene photos of a burned out building and a magazine article about a stolen diamond.

"Come on, you two," Sophie sighed. "Just get on with it."

"Darlene Fields," Parker yelled, directing the words at Eliot as if they were a challenge. "She likes to blow things up."

Parker stopped moving long enough for Eliot to snatch the remote out of her hands. He took a second to brush back his hair and then clicked the button again, newspaper articles and more pictures followed.

"She's a bomber?" Nate asked Eliot. From his tone it was clear he was already uninterested in the job.

"Demolitions expert. You call her when you want a wall taken down or a bank vault blown open. For a price she can design a bomb, but mostly she's just a supplier for hard to get explosives and the like." Parker snuck over to Hardison and stole a sip of his soda.

"Hey!" He yelled. The team all turned to look at them, Eliot growling slightly.

"You two worked together?" Nate asked.

"She worked with both of us in some capacity," Eliot told him.

"What all did you get up to?" Hardison asked, half joking half to satisfy his curiosity. Eliot sent a glare his way and crossed his arms.

"We got our hands dirty. She's dangerous, Nate. Smart, talented. Back in the day she was the go to for explosions. Could make any device at any size. Likes it too, sticks around to watch the fireworks sometimes."

Sophie shook her head. "I'm not going to work with a mass murderer," she informed them. "Hitting is one thing, and you don't even do that anymore, Eliot. But a bombing? No, no."

"Hey!" Parker yelled. "She's not a murderer. Darlene never blows up people, she blows up things. Has amazing connections, too. I used to use her to fence goods when they got too hot. We did a job in Paris together, tunneled into an old bank vault and blew the wall without even setting off an alarm." Parker smiled fondly at the memory, lost in thought for a moment.

Nate looked at Eliot to confirm this, and he shrugged. "She's not clean. We ran in the same circles, the girl was known for small jobs. Used to take out specific, high end targets. But explosions are more her weapon of choice than a passion. She's not going to bring down a building full of people if she's getting paid for one man."

"And besides, I don't do that anymore." Darlene's voice came from the doorway. The five of them span around to look at her, shocked not to have noticed a stranger in their house. Darlene came into the room and walked over to Nate, holding out her hand. He refused to shake it and she shrug, letting her arm fall back to her side.

"I find that hard to believe," Eliot told her, breaking the tense silence.

"Well I haven't stopped everything. I still supply, but I choose my clients. Robberies only. Hell, sometimes I even work the government. But no terrorists, no people looking to watch the world go boom for fun. And I fence things here and there. Thieves are more fun than hitters any day," she sent a wink Parker's way. Hardison laughed and Eliot rolled his eyes.

"Still, I don't like it." Sophie told her.

"You don't need to like my work, dear. But don't pretend you five haven't used a bomb or two yourselves. I got an earful about Serbia when you took down those gun runners. And you've survived plenty yourself – I heard about that special flower vase Chaos sent you."

"Katherine had a wonderful funeral," Sophie replied after a moment. Darlene smiled back at her, and then looked at Nate.

"I'm not here because I want to hurt anyone. I'm here because I want you to help me protect people. There's a guy buying up a number of choice items. He's been gathering different things from different people and, if what I suspect is right, he's looking to put together a powerful bomb. And he's going to set it off here in Boston."

"What makes you think that?" Eliot asked. Darlene reached into her pocket and pulled out a folded piece of paper.

"He contacted me two days ago, asking me to get a hold of special detonator he needs. Wanted it quick, too, my deadline was last night." She handed to papers over to Eliot, who opened them and then handed them to Hardison.

"They're emails. Can you trace them?" Hardison chuckled softly then went into the kitchen to grab his laptop. He opened it and got to work, hacking into her email account and using the mystery bomb's address to backtrack his location.

"This detonator, it means serious business?" Nate asked Darlene.

"Alone, no. It was the deadline that worried me most. Means he plans on using this thing within the next few days. Once I started asking around and found out what else he's been buying… I need your helping finding this guy, and figuring out where he plans on striking. If I can get to that bomb I can defuse it." Eliot nodded, silently backing her claim. He had seen her work with the military; there weren't many people with her skills.

"If he scares you so much, why supply to him? Especially now that you've limited your client base." Eliot demanded. Darlene's easy smile slid away. She grew very still and met his glare with one of her own.

"He had something on me."

"So it wasn't for the money, then?" Parker asked, as if she were commenting on the weather and not a secret exchange with a potential assassin.

"He had information I didn't want him to have. I gave him the detonator to buy some time. I figured I could track him on my own, learn more about what he's planning. But I lost my chance. I knew you were in the city; I'd tracked you down a few days before. I found you again last night to ask for help. Please. Trust me when I tell you this guy is bad news."

"What is this information he has on you?" Nate asked.

"Not relevant," Darlene shot back. Nate slammed his fist into the table, making everyone but Eliot jump.

"You are asking my family to take on a man with a bomb. Everything about this is relevant!"

There was a long minute of silence and Darlene and Nate sized each other up. Then, to everyone's surprise, Parker spoke up.

"This is about Holly, isn't it?"


	4. Chapter 4

Darlene bit her lip and looked down at her hands. "Close." She let out a sad laugh. "Holly's dead."

Parker gasped and walked across the room, crashing into Darlene and giving her a violent hug. Darlene was momentarily stunned by the abrupt change in Parker's manner, but she eventually returned the hug. The rest of the team shifted uncomfortably, unsure how they were supposed to react. "I'm so sorry," Parker told her. She pulled out of the hug and ran a thumb across Dar's check, brushing away a tear.

Eliot tilted his head to the side, re-evaluating his opinion on Parker's history with their guest for the third time. They seemed to know way too much about each other for people that had simply worked on two or three jobs in the past. There was something more there, a bigger history. He glanced over at Hardison and saw that he was noticing the same thing. Hardison met his gaze and shrugged. He was content to wait for the explanation.

"I'm sorry, but the rest of us need some more information. Who is this Holly? Did the bomber kill her?" Nate asked.

Parker jumped away from Darlene and turned back to the room, suddenly aware of the audience watching them. Darlene attempted a smile and failed. "She was my sister. She died a year ago, cancer. But she had a daughter, May. She's eight and she's mine now, I'm trying to take care of her. It's part of the reason I've scaled back on my less…moral specialties."

Eliot shot Hardison another look – so this was why Parker was so emotional over Holly. Out of everyone on the team, she was the one who best understood what it was to loose a sibling.

"The bomber found her," Eliot said, happy to have a full understandings of Darlene's motives. Darlene nodded and continued with her story.

"He sent me a picture of her playing at the playground behind her school. I guess he knew I wasn't in the game anymore but didn't care. I'm probably the only person in New England right who could be trusted to build a detonator like that. And it helps that he found a way to arrange the exchange without payment."

"Where is May now?" Eliot asked, already developing a plan to protect the little girl.

"I have a safe house. I had her moved out of the country before I brought the detonator to the drop location and then. She is with a friend. She should be safe." She let the 'for now' go unsaid, but the team understood her position. If the man had tracked both Darlene and her niece, than he would have a good idea of Darlene's known associates. It was only a matter of time before the girl would have to be moved again.

"And even if May is safe, he will probably try to kill you just to cover his tracks," Nate offered. Sophie shifted unhappily in her chair, her unease with the situation becoming a physical discomfort. Bombers threatening children, this wasn't their usual gig.

"We don't know that. She handed over the detonator, he got what he wanted," Hardison said.

"Doesn't matter. This bomb, it's to take out a big target. Lots of attention from the authorities. And the detonator can be traced back to me, it's my work. He could kill me just to frame me for everything and get away free."

"You've seen this before?" Nate asked her. Darlene and Eliot shared a knowing look. They've seen it before; chances were they'd both done something similar before. But there was no need to tell the team that.

"Yes. Cops find a bomb, match it to my work, find my body. Case closed."

"What's your plan for after we find this guy?" Sophie asked softly. "Even if he somehow find a way to lock him up, how are you going to keep your niece safe?"

"I have money hidden away. I'm doing my best to become an honest citizen of sorts. Fake my death, get some forged documents and we should be able to find a little bubble of security somewhere. But that isn't going to happen as long as this guy if after us. I'm May's only family. I need this guy done."

Nate frowned then turned his attention back to the monitors. "Ok, then. Where should we start?"

Darlene took a breath – until that moment, she wasn't sure they would agree to help her. She looked to Eliot and Parker and then shrugged. "If your computer guy can track the email, we can check that out. I can show you the drop site and could probably sketch out a few ideas I have about the bomb's potential design," Darlene told him.

"Ok," Nate nodded, his mind racing as he tried to put together a plan. "Ok. We need to get a read on the device and the target. Our goal right not is to determine the target. Eliot, you and Hardison track this email and check out where it comes from. Parker, you go with Darlene here and check out the drop site. I'm assuming you've had some experience with these things?"

Parker smirked; she did indeed have an extensive history picking and using drop locations. Not everyone who commissioned an art theft liked to hand over the payment face to dace.

"What about you?" Parker asked.

"Me and Sophie are going to see if there are any big names in Boston. If someone is building a bomb, there should be a limited number of potential targets. We'll make a list." He looked to Sophie to get her opinion.

"I should have a few contacts I can reach out to. See if there are any particularly interesting people in the city for a short time," she told him.

"Alright. Let's go steal a bomb." In typical Nate fashion he then walked out of the apartment, leaving Sophie to scramble to catch up to him. She grabbed her jacket and bag, then turned around to look at Darlene. "It…it was nice to meet you," she said before chasing Nate out the door.

Hardison looked up from his computer and gestured to Eliot. "I've got a trace on the IP address that was used to send the email. You good to go?" Eliot shook his head and they too headed for the door. On his way out he put his hand on Darlene's shoulder.

"Sorry, for your sister," he mumbled. Darlene thanked him and watched the duo leave. The bickering began before they got to the elevator and Parker smiled, amused by their incessant need to argue.

"Guess it's just you and me," Parker said after a beat.

"Your team works fast," Darlene observed.

"No time to waste on a job like this," Parker replied.

"Well, shall we?"

"To the drop site!" Parker yelled, using a bit more enthusiasm than one would expect from a person tracking down a murderer.


End file.
